Should You Drink Water On An Empty Stomach When You Wake Up In The Morning?
We’ve all heard claims about “drinking water first thing in the morning” or “drinking it on an empty stomach,” but is there any truth to the claims surrounding these? While we could go on and on about the benefits of hydration—and we will—we want to focus on one particular claim: that drinking water on an empty stomach in the morning is somehow uniquely beneficial. Is there any truth to this?
The short answer is no. While it may be true that drinking a glass of water on an empty stomach may help you feel more awake or refreshed first thing, it’s not doing anything additional because it’s on an empty stomach. Truthfully, there is no evidence that drinking water first thing in the morning makes any notable difference in any health marker. The most important thing is simply that you are properly hydrated throughout the day. When you get the water is probably more of an individual preference.
Your body can’t produce enough water through metabolism to meet your daily needs. This means you need to consume water via your diet – including food and, naturally, drinks. Every tissue and organ in your body requires water. This includes (1):
- nutrient transportation
- thermoregulation (regulating your body temperature)
- lubrication of your joints and lubrication fluids in your body (saliva and mucous)
- Shock absorbance
Dehydration is very dangerous. At a minor level, it will leave you feeling lethargic, incapable of concentration, and decrease athletic performance, not to mention the effects it has on your hair and skin. At an extreme level, it causes organ failure and death.
Still, there is much misinformation about water: How much you should drink per day, the temperature of the water, and whether or not drinking water on an empty stomach has specific benefits. Let’s clarify some of these myths and misconceptions so that you can focus on hydrating properly.
This is a common myth that many people believe, but there’s no evidence to back it up. Drinking water first thing in the morning has no special benefits for your body or its ability to remove toxins from your system; it’s simply part of a healthy hydration routine. Your kidneys are responsible for removing waste and toxins from your body. Do they require water to function? Of course. Does your water drinking schedule have any impact on this? No. (2)
There is also a common misconception that because your urine is darker in color in the morning, this means that you are dehydrated from not having drunk all night. This is not entirely true. Researchers studied urine samples of adults after a night’s sleep without water intake and found that urine color in the morning didn’t actually correlate with dehydration levels. It is simply darker because it is more concentrated because you also didn’t urinate during that time. (3)
